Previous Research Projects
Maintaining small weather station
Emission monitoring trailer at a dairy operation
Teng Lim was part of the National Air Emission Monitoring Project, who managed a swine farm monitoring site and a dairy farm monitoring site, both at Indiana. It is one of the largest animal production air quality monitoring study conducted in the U.S. The study was funded by the animal production industry as part of a 2005 voluntary air compliance agreement with EPA. University researchers conducted this monitoring with EPA oversight, with most of the monitoring lasted over two years at each site.
The studies collected many key air pollutant concentrations and emission data. Many university researchers gathered data on how animals were managed at farms at many different states, including numbers of animals, how they were housed, and how their waste was managed. They also gathered data on weather (Photo on top). Many sites utilized mobile trailer to house air quality equipment for the data collection.
More information can be found at:
https://www.epa.gov/afos-air/national-air-emissions-monitoring-study
https://engineering.purdue.edu/~odor/NAEMS/
Anaerobic Digesters at University of Missouri Swine Research Center. A pilot-scale digester system was installed to digest manure from two of the finishing rooms of the research farm. The pits were installed with commercial type manure scraper for solid-liquid separation and frequent manure collection. This type of design and configuration showcases how current pig barns can be converted for anaerobic digester setup, and is an ideal demonstration unit for parties of interest to learn about the anaerobic digestion systems.
Laboratory-scale digestors were utilized to evaluation of agriculture and commercial byproduct as co-digestion material for enhanced biogas production. These gallon-sized anaerobic digestion system was developed and proven to operate long-term, for various co-digestion efficiency tests. We have since tested co-digestion trials of beef cattle manure and waste kitchen oil (WKO), pig manure with WKO and commercial by-product, and corn-stover. The research setup was innovative in using Tedlar bags for biogas collection to minimize leakage issues, while biogas production rate was measured with a bag height measurement setup, and several papers are published .
Another project evaluated degradation of veterinary antibiotics via anaerobic digestion. This project confirmed that the regular uses of Chlortetracycline and Tylosin did not significantly affect biogas production of digesters, which were setup to better mimic the industrial operation. More importantly, 100% degradation of Tylosin was observed due to the digestion process. Another paper about degradation of sulfamethazine and improving isotope internal standards and the LC-MS-MS recovery of antibiotics is also being prepared.
Sustainability evaluation of a solid-liquid manure separation operation
This National Pork Board funded project allowed us to systematically evaluate the costs and practicality of a solid-liquid separation finishing barn, in improving manure nutrient management, and potential nutrient/water recycling based on filtration. This study confirms such an alternative nutrient management system can be practical and reasonably cost-effective to the industry standards of either lagoon and deep-pit systems. The project has helped to expand onto related research projects (Acidification of separated manure, and the USDA nutrient/water recycling projects). The construction cost of the solid-liquid separation barn was 17% higher than deep-pit barn. The solid-liquid separation barn was shown to have better air quality when compared with deep-pit barns.